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Deconstruction Review of Fringe, Episode 11 Season 4, Making Angels

Posted by Karl Withakay on February 3, 2012

A Gold/Yellow Episode

As always, an episode synopsis will be found over at Scott’s Polite Dissent

Peter Being Selfish Again

I suppose it’s never occurred to Peter how it might affect Walter if and when Peter manages to get back to his time line. I’m not even saying that it should be motivation for not trying to get back, just that at lest Peter might try to empathize a little and try to understand why Walter is being so short with him.

Mentat Astrid is Now Rain Man Astrid

I agree with Polite Scott that the other Astrid has gone changed from a mentat into basically someone with a form of autism spectrum disorder. As much as I want to find her new found sensitivity and vulnerability endearing, I prefer Mantat Mentat Astrid.

Never Send the Fringe Team to the Congo

Once again, we have a mysterious, unexplained death due to an unknown cause where the body manifests strange signs such as bleeding from the eyes (a common symptom of hemorrhagic fevers, like Ebola), and there is no biological containment set up, no safety procedures, and no protective gear of any kind beyond gloves used. Sooner or later, these guys are going to get themselves and a lot of other people killed.

Actually, in another time line, he is Walternate’s son, not Walter’s. In that time line, Walter did raise him though.

Choose to Believe?

Mentat/Rain Man Astrid:

“In that case, wouldn’t it be preferable if you chose to believe he was your son, and then you could love him and be happy?”

You may think I am being pedantic, but I would have phrased it “…if you tried to think of him as your son” and not used the word chose. I don’t how easy it is for someone to actually choose to believe something rather than choose to act as if they believe something or come to believe something. I can act as if I believe 2+2=5, I can come to a conclusion that 2+2=5 if I find compelling evidence that it is so, but I can’t just choose to believe 2+2 is 5 no matter how much I might want to.

Fringe Team, Trusted with the Safety of Two Universes #1

That attempt to arrest Neil on the job was one of the worst thought out operations the Fringe team has carried out so far. I guess it never occurred to the Fringe team to arrange ahead of time for TSA clearance to get access to the security area or alert the TSA that Neil was a terror suspect suspected of using chemical weapons and have them detain him. Even so, it also apparently never occurred to Olivia to shout out “Neil’s a terror suspect, arrest him!” when TSA wouldn’t let her through.

Slightly Absurd Product Placement

The Nissan Leaf is all electric, with no gasoline motor like hybrid vehicles. It seems unlikely that the FBI would issue vehicles with a range of about 73 miles between charges for regular use. It sure was convenient that the place where Neil used to work (MIT) happens to have a rapid recharge station, and they appear to let you use it for free.

No Search Warrant, No Problem

No further comment.

Fringe Team, Trusted with the Safety of Two Universes #2

Did it never occur to anyone to search Neil’s house for the Tears of Ra (or more of it if he had his atomizer on him) or the thing he said he had found that let him see the future? Eh, there’s probably nothing interesting in that safe, just head back to the office. They must have studied the Storm Trooper method of searching: “Door’s locked, move on to the next one.”

Did Neil See All Possible Futures?

OK, the cancer thing I can sort of get; it was fatal, and there was nothing anybody could do about it. (If only there was some way to get a cure for cancer from the future like you can get the formula for a poison). But the guy’s car accident was preventable. Why not prevent his suffering by preventing the accident rather than killing him before it happens? Frankly, just the delay due to the conversation in the garage might have thrown of the timing enough to prevent the accident.

Joshsaid

Just a small nitpick: Deus Ex Machina doesn’t mean “the Hand of God”, it’s “God out of the Machine”. That definition (and the idea behind it) would make more sense with how Neil appeared out of nowhere to change his victims’ lives.

Zyladorsaid

I am so glad I can just shut off my brain and enjoy the ride, that said, I do cringe when I see computers done wrong in shows. In any case, Neil is using the Observer tech, and one of the Observers did conclude that in all possible futures Olivia must die. Did Neil try to find all possible futures for the guy in the parking lot and find that one way or another the guy was going to get hit? No matter what he tries or does, the accident will happen? In fact, while trying to kill him, his target suffered the accident that crippled him. Kind of like a self-fulling prophecy :P. The plot does not delve into these points, but there are many obvious limitations to the use of the device: After all, Neil was surprised at Logan, he wasn’t expecting the DBI, he obviously doesn’t run the little device on himself all that often.